


A Helping Hand

by castiel_lightwood



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, High School AU, new kid!cas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 01:52:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3100658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castiel_lightwood/pseuds/castiel_lightwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>based on this prompt: “i’ve walked into your classroom four times by mistake can you please help me learn my way around this stupid school” AU. highschool destiel au</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Helping Hand

The first time the new kid walks into Dean’s classroom, he laughs along with everyone else. They’re in the middle of a presentation when the door is thrown hastily open and a figure rushes in, his cheeks flushed with exertion.

There’s silence for a moment; even the teacher is surprised. Not many people rush into classrooms without even knocking. The boy glances around the room, before his eyes settle on the board. The slide reads “rivers and meanders”, and his blue eyes widen with horror.

His voice quavers out through the silence. “This… isn’t maths?”

The room erupts into noise, and Dean joins in with the laughter. Poor kid, he didn’t know anything. The teacher takes him outside and must point him in the right direction before returning. It takes two minutes for her to calm the class down and the boy is forgotten about.

At break time Dean finds Charlie who had promised him some of her mum’s homemade pie. As he digs into the rich cherry filling, hearing the crumbly snap of the pastry under his fork, he doesn’t think the day can get any better.

"You seen the new guy?" Charlie asks him, grinning at the pure ecstasy on her best friend’s face.

"Hmmm?" Dean isn’t really listening, he’s too focused on the beautiful food in front on him.

Charlie snaps her fingers under his nose. “The new guy. Cas or something?”

Dean hadn’t even known the guy’s name. He swallows his pie and nods. “Yeah, he burst into my classroom today. Bet he doesn’t know where anything is.”

"Maybe someone should show him round," Charlie suggests, reaching over to steal part of the crust of Dean’s pie.

He swats her hand playfully but lets her have it. “Sure, that sounds just your thing. You love taking helpless creatures under your wing, right?”

Charlie elbows him in the side, scowling. “Its important to be nice to people. Especially if they’re new. I guess everyone laughed?”

Dean coughs. “Yeah.”

"They did when he came into my lesson too. It’s just mean."

Dean feels uncomfortable, and he turns his attention back to his pie, hoping Charlie won’t press him further.

Thankfully she decides to talk about the latest news on the new Star Wars film instead, and so Dean is spared from an awkward conversation about how he laughed at the new kid along with everyone else.

By lunchtime, Dean is feeling incredibly guilty. Cas hadn’t been in any more of his lessons, but he’d seen a growingly familiar head of scruffy brown hair dashing down the corridor past his classroom doors. The boy had paused at his english classroom, peering in before deciding that it must be the wrong room. Dean was glad. He couldn’t face hearing everyone laugh at Cas again. Like Charlie said (and as he should have realised earlier) it was mean.

He decides that if he sees Cas looking lost again he’ll go and help him.

As if the world is mocking his decision to be a kind citizen, he doesn’t see Cas again until the following day.

Its almost the end of his history lesson, and Dean has zoned out a bit, not really caring about whatever the teacher is droning on about. History isn’t one of his favourite subjects, and he’s considering doodling something for Charlie, maybe Princess Leia, or The Black Widow…

There’s a quiet knock on the door, and Dean’s eyes snap up. The teacher pauses before glancing at the clock and deciding that whoever it is can wait two minutes for the end of the lesson. Dean knows who it will be and tries to smile, although all he can see of Cas through the window is the top of his hair. Dean’s alternating between watching the clock and the door, hoping that the lesson will end quickly.

The teacher eventually tells them to pack up, and Dean shoves his pencil case and books into his bag, taking far less care of them than he usually would. But when he looks up at the door again, Cas has gone.

Dean feels something similar to panic rising in his chest and he rushes to the door. He’s the first out of the classroom, and then he’s looking up and down the corridor wildly, trying to spot Cas in the quickly crowding space.

Then he spots a slowly moving figure up the corridor and runs after him, pushing other students out of the way, only pausing to apologise to those who would give him trouble if he didn’t.

"Hey!" He calls out, and then feels stupid as about ten different people turn to look at him. But he doesn’t want to call Cas’s name in case he’s got it wrong and also so he doesn’t freak the other boy out. He’s had a bad enough experience at this school already.

His shoulders are hunched over, his head bent and his eyes clearly fixed on the floor. He doesn’t want anyone to notice him, and Dean feels guilty that Cas has been reduced to this state after only two days at school.

When Dean finally gets close enough to speak to Cas without shouting, his throat is suddenly dry. What if he didn’t want any help? What if he just wanted to be left alone?

"Hey," Dean says, jogging slightly so he’s walking in line with the other boy. Blue eyes rise to meet his, widening with surprise.

Dean tries to smile as kindly and genuinely as he can. “Cas, right?”

"Ye-ah," Cas stutters out, and flushes, glancing down again.

"I’m Dean," he holds his hand out to Cas, who takes it after only a moment’s hesitation.

"Hello Dean." his voice is polite, and a tiny smile flickers on his lips.

"You’re new here, right?" Dean asks as he pulls Cas to the side of the corridor, shielding him from the moving crowd.

Cas sighs and nods. “I was homeschooled before. I don’t understand anything.”

"Oh," Dean’s mind scrambles. Home schooled? He hadn’t realised that anyone was actually homeschooled anymore.

Cas shrugs apologetically. “My parents are old fashioned.”

"Well, lets see if we can work out where you have to go next then," Dean offers, holding his hand out for the timetable scrunched up in Cas’s hand.

Its well folded; clearly Cas has been looking at it almost constantly for the past two days. Dean opens it carefully, trying to make sure that it doesn’t disintegrate in his fingers.

It takes him two seconds to work out where Cas is going next and he doesn’t even try to hide his grin. “Hey look at that. You’ve got biology with me next.”

"Biology?" Cas’s nose screws up adorably as he thinks. "I think I’ve walked past there a lot."

"Well the biology labs are separate from the chemistry and physics labs - don’t ask me why - so you might not have yet. C’mon, I’ll show you."

Dean chats to Cas as they make their way through the corridors and then outside, talking about the school in general and how its really not that confusing once you’ve been there a couple of weeks. By the time they reach the labs, Cas has opened up a bit, asking questions about Dean’s favourite subjects and which of the teachers are the nicest.

Dean doesn’t even glance at his usual seat on the back row as he enters the lab, opting instead for the scarcely used front row. It’ll make a good impression, he whispers conspiratorially to Cas, and he’s rewarded with a brilliant grin that lights up the boy’s whole face.

Their teacher is surprised at seeing Dean on the front row, but doesn’t comment on it until he comes round to check how they’re all getting on with the work. He starts to talk to Cas about how well he’s settling in, and Cas smiles at the teacher before glancing at Dean, saying that he’s slowly getting the hang of it. The teacher then asks about whether Cas has a particular interest in biology, to which Cas responds so enthusiastically that even the teacher is surprised. He talks to Cas about different plants and organisms long after everyone has finished the set work; Dean learns that Cas is fascinated by insects, especially bees. He’s as impressed as his teacher when he learns about Cas’s honey bees and how he collects honey himself. Its by far the happiest Dean has seen Cas in the past two days, and he finds himself laughing at Cas’s stories about honey mishaps.

At lunchtime, Dean invites Cas to join Charlie and himself. There’s no pie today, but the canteen has chocolate cake instead, and Dean is in such a good mood that he doesn’t even complain. Charlie doesn’t comment about Dean’s sudden addition of a friend, instead greeting Cas warmly and talking to him in earnest about his home school life. She smiles and laughs at his jokes, and Dean is so relieved to hear that she’s got some lessons with Cas. He’ll need to make more friends than just him and Charlie, but that will take time, and for now Dean is just so immensely happy that he ran down that corridor.

The following day, Charlie brings in three slices of pie and they sit at break and eat together, Charlie and Cas laughing at how happy the pie makes Dean. But the pie tastes even better than usual, knowing that he’s surrounded by two amazing people. He knows in this moment that the three of them are going to become the very best of friends.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! please let me know if there are any mistakes - I found myself slipping into past tense a few times while writing it and I might have missed some


End file.
